As is the case with most things in life, context matters when it comes to the Book of Job. Understanding the timing of when it was written only serves to broaden our appreciation of Job’s story, his life, his testing, and his faithfulness. We have an idea of when this book was written, both by what is there and by what isn’t.
What is apparent is that Job’s family was established in a
patriarchal fashion. Although patriarchy has become a dirty word of late, this
means that Job was the head of his household and was responsible for the well-being
of all those within his sphere of influence, whether that meant his children or
those who worked for him.
His length of life also lends credence to the idea that Job
lived during the time of the patriarchs, given that after his travails, he
lived another hundred and forty years. By all accounts, by the time his end
came, Job was at least two hundred years old, perhaps even close to a quarter
of a century.
As I said, what isn’t in the Book of Job likewise gives us
insight into when Job walked among men. There is no mention of Israel, the
tribes, the law of God, or the tabernacle of meeting Moses erected toward the
latter end of Exodus. If these had existed in Job’s day, it would have been
highly unlikely that they would not be mentioned within the context of the
book. There would have been some reference to either the law of God or the
people of God had they been established during the life of Job. It’s not a
stretch to conclude that Job predated Moses, which in itself makes his
faithfulness all the more noteworthy.
He did not have the law, the prophets, or a historical record
of what God could do, as there was after the people of Israel were led out of
bondage, yet he cemented a relationship with God and remained faithful
throughout.
It’s also telling that Job did not take his relationship with
God for granted. His love and fear of the Lord did not wane with the passing of
time, and he was diligent in bringing burnt offerings for his progeny, as well
as maintaining his subservience to God. This says more about his character and
the way he viewed his relationship with God than anything he could say about
himself. An individual’s consistent actions will speak on his behalf even when
he remains silent.
We live in an age when men like to elevate themselves and
speak so highly of their accomplishments as to dwarf even the labors of someone
like Paul. To hear them tell the tale, all save a handful of people on a remote
island somewhere who haven’t heard their great preaching and oration have been
blessed by them, and if not for their being on team Jesus, the church would be
a shadow of its current self. Even if all the inflated accomplishments were genuine,
they weren’t yours. It is God who gives the word, it is God who gives the utterance,
and it is God who gives the gifts.
To take credit for something God has done is to relegate Him
to the back of the bus and insist that He couldn’t have done it without you. If
He must make the stones speak, they will, but God’s word will go forth with or
without you or me. Because men see themselves as indispensable to God and His
kingdom, and because the true desire of their heart is something other than to
serve the body of Christ, pride finds a willing host and brings friends along
to boot. Once this occurs, the fall is inevitable because pride will facilitate
and perpetuate it.
Job’s worship of God was not for show. It’s not as though his
neighbors were watching or he was trying to impress someone with his diligent
worship of God. There was no one to impress. There was no one he felt the need
to appear spiritual toward. It was who Job was to the deepest recesses of his
heart, and what was in his heart flowed forth into his actions. His worship of
God was a reflection of who he was.
If the desire of your heart is to know God in a more profound
and intimate way, you don’t need degrees or diplomas in order to attain a deep
and lasting relationship with God, but simply the humility to follow where He
leads and do as He commands. People who put on airs, are overly performative or
feel the need to have an audience whenever they do anything on behalf of God
are suspect in my book because intimacy naturally presupposes a very reduced
number of participants, namely you and God.
Nobody needs to see you praying, worshiping, giving, weeping,
singing, or rejoicing, but be assured God does, and when we draw near to Him,
He will draw near to us. Acting spiritual isn’t the same as being spiritual,
but we will settle for the former rather than the latter because the latter
requires consistency and a pure heart in which the Holy Spirit can reside.
Even though save for Jesus on the cross, no man suffered the
likes of what Job did, he understood intuitively what Paul would later put into
words, that our afflictions, light or otherwise, are working for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18, “For our light affliction, which is
but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things
which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things
which are not seen are eternal.”
To understand how an individual defines something, you must
look at their life in the aggregate to see their lived experience. When Paul
speaks of light affliction, his lived experience was being lashed with whips five
separate times, at thirty-nine lashes per event, beaten with rods, stoned, and
shipwrecked, among other things. That was his frame of reference when he spoke
of light affliction. And yet, he looks back on all the pain, hardship, and travail
and concludes that it worked a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
I don’t know about you, but if I were to compare my affliction to his, it wouldn’t even be worthy of mention.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea, Jr.
Posted on 28 September 2024 | 12:28 pm
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